


the houses we build on stilts

by okayantigone



Series: the hollow crown-Riko Lives AU [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Weddings, media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 02:59:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14865320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okayantigone/pseuds/okayantigone
Summary: Riko has always known how to dominate the news cycle. He wined and dined the news cycle, then took it up to his swanky penthouse, and brought out the ball gags and floggers and blindfolds.Kevin only doesn’t have to hear anything about Ridya after some senator gets caught cheating on his wife with a youth pastor from his church or something. He doesn’t pay much attention. Ridya. Fucking unbelievable.





	the houses we build on stilts

Riko’s wedding makes the headlines.

Kevin reads all about it, swallowing bitterly both the news and his morning smoothie.

 

Lydia is resplendent in her Marchesa gown, really, truly stunning. Her eyes are glazed and her smile is Xanax-polished and vacant. Kevin can practically feel the possessive curl of Riko’s fingers on her waist, like phantom pain. He is smiling too, close lipped.

 

College sweethearts, the media calls them. Lydia laughs charmingly, and talks about how _adorable_ Riko’s crush on her was, when he was still a teenager. About how _flattered and surprised_ she was when he sought her out after they had both graduated.

 

Their wedding video is on youtube. There’s a lot of champagne. The cake is five tiered, and Kevin knows damn well Riko threw it all up.

Ichirou’s face is politely impassive. Best man, standing behind Riko firm, and unshakeable. Riko got baptized, because Lydia wanted a cathedral wedding. _So doting._

They’re honeymooning in the house in Kyoto that Tetsuji left Riko in his will.

 

It’s all the media talks about. Riko has always known how to dominate the news cycle. He wined and dined the news cycle, then took it up to his swanky penthouse, and brought out the ball gags and floggers and blindfolds. Or maybe he did that to just Lydia. Maybe Kevin is jealous.

 

Thea was invited to the wedding, pointedly without Kevin. Fucking _Allison_ was invited to the wedding.

 

 _“It was all very tasteful,”_ she said. Kevin cursed her out and hung up on her.

 

He doesn’t have to hear anything about Ridya because some senator gets caught cheating on his wife with a youth pastor from his church or something. He doesn’t pay much attention. _Ridya. Fucking unbelievable._

He’s just about put the whole thing out of his mind a month later. It’s a Sunday morning. He’s just gotten back from a run. He’s got his smoothie. Thea’s at the gym. He flips the channels, and drops the shaker, because Riko and Lydia are on the screen. Kathy Ferdinand’s show. _America loves having breakfast with Kathy and her guests._

Lydia is stoned out of her mind. Kevin knows, because that’s how he used to make it through interviews with Riko. Her eyes are blown wide like someone’s shining a projector right into her pupil. She leans comfortably into Riko’s side, and he throws an arm over her shoulders casually, almost as an afterthought.

 

Kevin recognizes the ring on Lydia’s finger, only because Riko had gone on a tangent about it once. Had found newspaper clippings about his mother. A main family heirloom. Ichirou as his best man. Lydia is talking about all the renovations she’s doing to their new house in Baltimore.

 

She wants an open plan modern kitchen. And Riko wants _whatever pleases my dearest one._

 

When Kathy asks about children, Riko flinches. His grip on Lydia’s wristis bruising, and his knuckles are white, but he smiles on.

 

“We’re still young,” he forces out. “There’s time.”

 

Lydia is almost five years older than him, and they’re not in their twenties anymore. Kathy pushes. Lydia is frustrated. High-frustrated, so her answer comes out sluggish, but calculated.

 

Her family has a history of mental illness, she says. And Riko’s own public struggle with mania and suicidal depression, she says. She fixes Kathy with a look that reminds Kevin exactly why she’s the woman who ended up bagging Riko Moriyama, and the family diamond.

 

“It would be cruel to pass that sort of history on to our child,” she says. “Other people may be better equipped to cope with parenting. But me and Riko – we know where we stand, we are devoted to our work. And in our own way – we are devoted to children as well.”

 

She steers the conversation towards the new money laundering charities Riko is building, and scholarships for disadvantaged teens she’s setting up at Edgar Allan. Riko’s grip on her wrist doesn’t relax for the rest of the show. They smile and laugh through it.

 

Kathy supplies charmingly staged candid videos of their honeymoon. Lydia’s silk beach throw does wonders to hide her scars. Riko’s Irezumi tattoos are brilliant in the sun. Ravens, and blades, and flowers, and dragons. He who has been found worthy to be branded. There’s pictures of their house – oh, but Perfect Homes is doing an issue on it after all the remodeling is done – and they are just _thrilled about it, just thrilled!_

Kevin knows Riko’s wedding band. It’s simple, and gold, and he’s been carrying it in his breast pocket every day since Goodridge. Kevin would have said yes, he thinks. Back then. If Riko had asked. If Riko had been allowed to ask.

 

“I wish,” Riko says solemnly, “that my uncle could have been alive to see … all this happiness in my life.”

 

Lydia is starting to wince, but she doesn’t try to pull her hand away.

 

“He was a father to me in every way,” Riko says.

 

His lips say “uncle”, but what he really means is “Nathan”. That’s the father Riko misses. The Butcher he replaced.

 

The screen goes black.

 

Thea’s hand around the remote is shaking.

“Get over him,” she says quietly. “Get over him.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've brought Goodridge up before in my Rikev - it's the court case that won gay couples the right to a being issues marriage licenses in Massachusets in 2003. Essentially, Riko's been waiting to propose to Kevin since the moment it would have become legal for them to get married. Y'know.... until that whole other mess happened.


End file.
